Hawking, Dr. Stephen

Dr. Stephen Hawking was one of three great minds of Earth science —along with Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton—that Data used to create holographic recreations with whiich to play poker and converse, for recreation. Hawking, considered one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists of 20th-century Earth, developed a quantum theory of gravity, in which he sought to link the two major theories of physics: quantum mechanics and relativity. Hawking also speculated on the existence of wormholes and quantum fluctuations linking multiple universes. Hawking's scientific achievements were all the more remarkable because he was afflicted with a debilitating neural disease that kept him confined to a wheelchair, able to speak only with the aid of a speech-synthesis computer.

In an alternate future experienced by Jean-Luc Picard, Data held the same position at Cambridge University that Hawking and Newton had in previous centuries, and he had a copy of Hawking's book, "A Brief History of Time," in his library.